Here’s an option for starting a news service: Tiny News Collective
Ruixin Zhang, Lab Reporter
For years, Cara Kuhlman, founder of maritime publication Future Tides, saw the same problem whenever she looked out at the waterways around Washington state: maritime publications were national in scope with little coverage of the local water-using community around her.
Plus, having interacted with many local maritime stakeholders, she realized there needed to be something to bridge the gap between different community experiences.
“We're sharing the waterways, but we're not sharing the same news and information,” Kuhlman said. “How does that prevent us from understanding what the ferry captain needs versus what the new kayakers are experiencing? And how does that prevent us from planning ahead and preparing for the future of the waterways here together?”
Future Tides, which covers “how people work, play and live on the Pacific Northwest’s waterways,” grew out of that very idea in 2021.
Joining Tiny News Collective, or TNC, in early 2023 was one major way that got the ball rolling for Future Tides to function as a local news outlet, Kuhlman said, and it came at a time that she was planning to launch a website.
“The combined costs of using a [content management system], plus hosting, and any add-ons you’re doing, I really think that they offer a very good bargain for the website that you receive,” she said.
What is the Tiny News Collective?
Incorporated in 2020, TNC aims to lift barriers for entry for communities that may have been underserved by traditional media with coaching and tools, according to executive director Amy L. Kovac-Ashley.
That includes working with founders serving communities of color, LGBTQ communities, immigrant communities, as well as places that have become “news deserts” or experienced what the organization calls “news neglect.”
“The question we were really trying to answer, and that we're still trying to answer, really, is, what is it that news founders and news entrepreneurs need today?” she said.
Kovac-Ashley said TNC offers the infrastructure to get a publication off the ground, including access to Ghost, a newsletter and content management platform (full disclosure: also used by SuccessfulJournalism.com) , as well as fiscal sponsorship.
"Fiscal sponsorship" may sound like uninspiring accounting talk, but it can be a ramp to serious funding without having to go through the complicated process of becoming a nonprofit. Through its 501(c)(3) status, TNC fiscally sponsored news services to receive tax-deductible donations and apply for grants. TNC fiscally sponsors about 70 organizations.
Another aspect of TNC is the virtual community of TNC members that can share advice and learn from each other, she said.
“We really want members to be meeting each other and finding those partnership opportunities, bouncing ideas off of another person,” Kovac-Ashley said.
There are two membership tiers: a community membership at $50 monthly with the fiscal sponsorship, community space access and group training, and a higher-tier – that Kuhlman is on – costing $100 monthly that includes additional publishing and technology support, including access to Ghost, a newsletter and content-management platform.
Support local news entrepreneurs
Dozens of news organizations work with TNC. In addition to Kuhlman’s Future Tides, TNC news outlets include Ethiopique, founded by Henok Mengistu to serve Washington, D.C.’s Amharic-speaking Ethiopian and Eritrean community, as well as the Harvey World Herald, spearheaded by Amethyst Davis.
“Our members are some of the bravest, most creative people out there thinking about real issues and how their communities are being served,” Kovac-Ashley said.
‘An uphill hike’
According to Northwestern University's 2025 state of local news report, newspapers are continuing to “disappear at an alarming rate, with 148 vanished due to closures or mergers in 2025. (Shameless plug from your Successful Journalism for Communities editor: Some on the ropes might benefit from emotional engagement.)
For Kuhlman, who’s growing the publication while working a full-time job, building Future Tides presents its own uphill climb. Kuhlman said she is still working to establish broader recognition and develop sustainable revenue through memberships, sponsorships, paid walking tours and grants. It’s a path we’ve heard from others in entrepreneurial journalism – sustainability and success through multiple tunnels of revenue.
“I would say that's kind of my uphill hike right now,” Kuhlman said. “It's really more constrained by my capacity.”
Nobody is claiming that TNC can rescue all of local news, but Kovac-Ashley said it ensures founders do not have to face the struggles alone.
That, she said, is central to TNC’s model.
“The idea is that we're providing wraparound services to folks,” Kovac-Ashley said, “so that they're not out there on their own.”
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